


Looking to the Future

by Sera_F (TorehZhark)



Category: Original Work
Genre: M/M, proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-08
Updated: 2019-10-08
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:14:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28387605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TorehZhark/pseuds/Sera_F
Summary: A big question indeed.





	Looking to the Future

**Author's Note:**

> This short combined a few writing prompts:  
> \- Say something big with something small, and you can't say it directly at all  
> \- Something big or historically significant is happening in the background of an otherwise small event  
> \- Revise multiple times (ish) to improve foreshadowing  
> \- Revise, with particular emphasis on sensory information

He looked more nervous than I had ever seen him. Standing there in his jacket and colors, with several other chieftains at his side in full dress. I stood abruptly, unsure if sitting was a kind of insult.

“Caides?”

His cheeks turned pink, and his pupils flickered to the corners of his eyes as if trying to see behind him. Caides looked like he either wanted to turn around and escape his ringed entourage, or berate them.

“Seraph, can we propose -- erm -- can I ask you to escort us back to the embassy?” In all of our time together I had never heard the Lord Sentinel speak to me and stutter.

“Caides, are you -- are you alright?” I took a step forward, my eyes searching his face. Was there something wrong? A vow, a remembrance I had forgotten to uphold? “Am I missing something?” From behind Caides, his bodyguard Meridia looked like she was about to burst.

“I, uh. Well.” He took a breath before continuing, his face rosy. “It is customary for the chieftan of Sentinel Mount to assemble those he trusts before…” Caides trailed off.

I looked to Meridia. “What's wrong with him?” Another step forward brought me a foot from Caides, but Meridia chose that moment to spring between us.

“It is not customary --” She stopped midsentence as well.

“Customary for what?” I pushed her aside, reaching forward to take one of his hands in mine. His pulse was pounding in his left palm, racing faster when I held it. I could feel his very heart. My next words were quiet.

“What’s wrong?”

“I--” Caides looked at me to meet my gaze. Those green rings held a kind of promise within, a secret in the woods that was mine to find. I would have to chase after him as he ran the trees, just as a sentinel would. Catch him before he started running.

“Caides, just tell me. Run, and I will follow.”

As if waiting on my words alone, the four chieftains at his sides fell to a kneel, arm on knee as they each sank towards the earth. Meridia knelt as well, leaving Caides standing on his lonesome before me. From behind I heard more movement: the Chaplain and Vanguard had come to find me for some unknown reason. Now, they too had taken a kneeling position, instead with their fists together in the posture of Radiant prayer. There was more movement, more kneeling. Soon a veritable crowd knelt around Caides and I, the only two standing.

“Toreh.” He had found his words, the semblance of a grin curling the edges of his mouth. Caides had told me once that my name felt like honeyed wine on his tongue, and that his mouth wrinkled at the taste.

I smiled back.

“Toreh Zhark, Seraph to the Radiant and a member of the Seven. Toreh, I met you many winters ago when the Sentinel Federation was but a collection of lost tribes and identities. It has been two now since we first held council on the Oakstone, and it has been almost a year since I was named Lord Sentinel of the Federation.”

_ He can’t be, he’s not -- _

“Toreh Zhark, with the blessings of the fourteen tribes and the grace of the Lifegiver herself, I offer you the greatest gift that a sentinel may give another, be they of tribe or otherwise.”

_ Caides-- _

With his eyes on me Caides fell to one knee, our hands joining our two forms.

“Toreh, will you marry me?”

My mind pulled me from the moment at hand. The prospect of marriage had not first come from Caides but from Chaplain NAME, who had first asked me about marrying the leader of the sentinels.

“It would change a whole many things, and for the better,” he had begun to explain in his creaky voice. “No longer would we be bound to our duties of the Seven, borne of and to the Light. No, we would enter into the greatest union this world has ever known. The Radiant and the Sentinels, united.” He had looked at me over the top of his codex as he spoke, to be sure I understood the gravity of his words. “You are not simply courting a sentinel, dear Seraph; you are courting an entire country and its people.”

I responded to both NAME in the past and Caides in the present: “An entire country and its people."  


Caides furrowed his eyebrows, still unmoving as he waited for my answer. I mustered up another smile for him, trying to reassure without words before turning to look behind me. Though most had their heads bowed, the Chaplain met my gaze and nodded. _It is time_ , I heard echo in my head.

“Caides.” I turned back to the man before me. Instead of continuing I let go of his hand and took a few steps away.

“As is tradition amongst the Seven, I forfeit my choice in matters of the heart to the Light.” I bowed my head and clasped my hands, as I had been taught. “This, I pray: Tamaes, the Seraph who came before me, give me a sign of the Light’s grace. I ask that you guide me in this, as the Light does in all things.”

_And I’m sorry_ , I added wordlessly. 

A gasp swelled in the room.


End file.
